This invention is in the field of dental floss holder devices of the type consisting of a strand of floss with gripping elements at each end to be held between fingers of both hands, and packages for containing a plurality of such devices and for easily dispensing such devices one-at-a-time, and methods of packaging such devices.
Despite the development of the new dental floss holder device as generally disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,892 and the enhanced ease and efficiency of flossing when using such devices, actual availability and use by the public depends ultimately on packaging convenience plus portability and the economics of manufacture. The price of each floss unit, which has only a few inches of floss, is very low; therefore, millions must be sold to establish profitability. To manufacture devices efficiently in such quantities requires expensive mass production equipment. The cost of packaging a convenient and practical quantity, such as one to fifty of these devices, will of necessity be a high percentage of the total cost of the devices and package combined. Since these products are unique in form and no prior package design or techniques for packaging them existed, the availability and marketing of these products as new and desirable dental health apparatus has been hindered and retarded.
As noted earlier the dental floss holder devices typically are five and one half inches in total length with two half inch long gripper elements and four and one half inches in length of floss between the elements which are each approximately one eighth inch wide by one sixteenth inch thick. These gripper elements typically made of nylon or other plastic are molded onto the floss which is typically multifilament nylon, rayon, Dacron, cotton or other synthetic or natural fiber.
The floss holder devices are typically made in mass production injection molding machines which mold the gripper elements onto multiple continuous strands of floss thus producing successive adjacent flossing units, each comprising a length of floss with a pair of spaced elements, each unit adjoining or spaced about one half inch from the next element. These successive flossing units on continuous strands of floss may be separated from one another before they are packaged. According to the present invention applicant has developed new techniques and structures for mass production techniques of packaging these devices in multiple groups according to designs which are practical, feasible and economical.